Concept in Definition ABC

Ethnography is the human science that is dedicated to the study of peoples or communities through their traditions, rites, tools and ways of life.

Discipline that studies peoples based on customs and rites ...

Meanwhile, it is of notable relevance when it comes to knowing for sure the identity of a human community that develops in a context sociocultural determined.

It is one of the branches of the anthropology and also of the sociology, both sciences that are interested in the analysis of the complex phenomenon known as human society. Ethnography means in Greek 'the study of a people' since ethnos means town, folklore and graphos writing or analysis.

For many, ethnography is not a science but a mode of study that sciences such as anthropology or sociology apply in their analysis of the human being. However, ethnography is gaining more and more place in the scientific world because it is interested in giving an integral vision to the study of human communities. This means that when an ethnologist seeks to approach a past community or society to understand it, he does so through the analysis of its customs in complete form, its rites, its ways of understanding the world, its punishment systems and the different kinds of social relations that may exist in her.

The need for field work

The work of ethnography demands, yes or yes, a specific field work, that is, the ethnographer, who is the professional who is dedicated to this discipline You will have to observe in situ during a considerable period of time and determined the group under study.

In this way, the interpretation of it and the conclusions it draws about its uses and customs, among other issues, will be much more precise and forceful.

It is also common and of great help during this field work that the ethnographer conducts personal interviews with people who make up the study group. Face-to-face interviews allow us to observe issues that may go unnoticed in the group and also allow to gather more information and obtain more data than probably at first glance who does not integrate the observed culture will find it difficult to understand or watch.

Another common action of the ethnographer is to join the activities, rites and practices that the culture under study develops and displays. This action will allow you to get involved in the first person and thus better understand everything inherent to the civilization studied.

Freeing oneself from ethnocentrism to obtain a pure and objective work on the people studied

Now, it is very important that the ethnographer frees himself from any ethnocentric tendency to carry out his work because if so, his work will not have any value.

When this inclination prevails, the professional will tend to judge, qualify customs, beliefs and languages ​​as desirable and superior to the rest.

It will be considered common for people who make up the culture to have this tendency to consider and describe their own beliefs and customs in a positive way and to criticize the others, but of course, the professional in charge of this analysis must be as objective as possible, away from prejudices and be as neutral as possible so that the analysis yields a description the most impartial.

So don't fall for it ethnocentrism it must be the path that should guide the work of the ethnographer.

Ethnography is also interested in the study of all the individuals that make up a society and does not give primacy to those who have power or good economic position since the rules, customs and rites are established in a generalized way and when they differentiate between them, this also contributes to a better understanding of each community specific.

Ethnography can use different elements to carry out its studies. In the first place, elements that are considered cultural are used to get closer to the mentality and way of understanding the world of a community: works of art, crafts, tools, clothing, etc. Then, you can also have other types of material such as written documents (if they exist) or archaeological analyzes.

Topics in Ethnography